ROME, Italy—Don’t call her “Clayomi.” At least, not yet, says Naomi Osaka. “I think I need more clay credentials for that,” Osaka demurred after a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daria Kasatkina at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The win over the No. 10 seed made it two Top 20 wins in

No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev became the latest big name to fall in the round of 16 at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday, losing to No. 13 seed Fabio Fognini in straight sets, 7-6 (6), 6-1. Zverev had won both of their previous meetings in straight sets, and

In his first match since capturing his record-tying 20th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic made a blistering start to his quest for his first gold medal on Saturday afternoon, beating Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics. Djokovic was never in trouble

As a wild card qualifier, Daniel Galan has already played more tennis than anyone remaining in contention at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships. And because of rain on Friday night, Galan needs to win two matches on Saturday if he hopes to reach his first career ATP final. But

Coco Gauff vs. Dayana Yastremska Is Yastrenska just a big-stage player now? That’s one way of interpreting her results in 2024. The Ukrainian slugger won eight matches at the Australian Open, coming out of qualifying to reach the semifinals. After that, she went 5-8, and she hasn’t made it out

Each week, Baseline will take a look at a player who has thrived at one of the stops on the ATP and WTA tours during their career. (Photos: Getty Images) Over the course of his record-breaking career, Roger Federer has won 28 of his career titles at the Masters 1000

Rafael Nadal and Alex De Minaur won second-round matches at the Australian Open on Wednesday night to set up an intriguing third-round clash at the first Grand Slam of the year. Nadal had the quicker day at the office, hitting 33 winners to just 15 unforced errors, and fighting off

For the first time since the 2022 US Open, we’re going to see Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner meet each another at a major. This epic showdown was set up by Alcaraz earning a 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Sinner cruising to a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—Who says you can’t win at the net on the slow hard courts here? Radek Stepanek, who rolled through the first set of his match on Saturday 6-2, in just 38 minutes, might tell you otherwise. The Czech was nine of 12 at net, and dictated with controlled

In recent years ESPN has taken it upon itself to break the college-football season into specific weeks. Each is given it own (entirely contrived) name, like “Separation Saturday." Apparently the network felt that the sport, which borders on a religion in certain parts of the country, needed just a little

PARIS—The fourth-round match between Novak Djokovic and Andreas Seppi in Court Philippe Chatrier didn’t start out like it was going to go four and a half (seemingly interminable) hours. Djokovic, who was 7-0 against Seppi coming in, appeared to be sharp and in good spirits for the first three games,

It was obvious from the opening bell of this semifinal whose racquet was going to be doing the dictating today. Maria Sharapova came out hammering every ball that Caroline Wozniacki served up to her. First serve returns, second serve returns, crosscourt backhands, down the line forehands—she was teeing off. Meanwhile

“Tennis doesn’t have an idea problem,” former USTA head of pro tennis Arlen Kantarian told a group of our editors 20 years ago. “It has a get-it-done problem.” The question we were discussing wasn’t a new one: Why doesn’t tennis have its version of the Ryder Cup? Golf’s biennial team

Eternal Topic A at this time of year is the length of the tour schedules. Once we have that out of the way (I discussed it here last week), we can move on to Eternal Topic B: The pros and cons of a so-called fifth Grand Slam. This concept begins

The lesson of Jack Sock’s 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 win over Alexander Zverev at the World Tour Finals seems to be this: Find a way to get penalized at a crucial stage in a match. Most tennis fans are familiar with the scenario where one player receives a time warning for

WIMBLEDON, England—The Deci-Belles would make a good name for an all-girl band, and you couldn’t ask for a more appropriate pair of founding members than Maria Sharapova and Michelle Larcher de Brito, two of tennis' pioneering shriekers. They wouldn’t need to pay for microphones, anyway. The women put on their

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Cheery fans, dreary skies. Wimbledon is back after a one-year hiatus and the gray, overcast weather felt right at home at an event notorious for its rain delays. "Perfect spectator weather," said Hannah Scott, a 26-year-old mask-wearing graduate student from London who was among the first

Fabio Fognini fought back from a set and a break down to beat Borna Coric in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters, setting up a blockbuster semifinal clash against Rafael Nadal. Fognini rallied from 6-4, 4-1 down to win his first round match against Andrey Rublev earlier in

PARIS—Third time’s the charm, a beaming Coco Gauff reminds to everyone inside Court Philippe Chatrier. The 20-year-old has added Grand Slam doubles champion to her resume after a dream Roland Garros team debut with Katerina Siniakova. With planned Olympic partner Jessica Pegula still recovering from injury, Gauff wasn’t sure any

This series of fast-paced volley drills will sharpen your footwork and net game. To be a successful volleyer, you need good footwork, racquet awareness, and ball control. Sounds like a lot to work on, but luckily they are things you can easily practice. These drills will help improve the overall